Saturday, January 30, 2016

SALT LAKE CITY, 29 January 2016—RootsTech, the world’s largest family
history and technology conference held in Salt Lake City, Utah, February 4-6,
2016, announced today that 15 of its popular sessions will be broadcast live
and complimentary over the Internet. The live broadcasts will give those unable
to attend in-person worldwide a sample of this year’s conference content.
Interested viewers can watch the live presentations at RootsTech.org. Saturday's Family Discovery
Day sessions will be broadcast live on LDS.org.

The streamed RootsTech sessions include the general sessions and a sampling
of technology and family history presentations. Following are the
broadcasted sessions and speakers. All times are in Mountain Standard Time
(MST):

Family Discovery Day Streaming Schedule (LDS.org Saturday,
February 6, 2016)

Time

Length

Session Information- English

Session Information- Languages

1:00 p.m.

45 Minutes

RootsTech Family Discovery Day Opening Session:

Elder Dale G. Renlund, Sister Ruth L. Renlund, Sister Ashley
Renlund

RootsTech Family Discovery Day Opening Session:

Elder Dale G. Renlund, Sister Ruth L. Renlund, Sister Ashley
Renlund

2:00 p.m.

45 Minutes

Family History Discussion:

Sheri L. Dew and Sister Wendy W. Nelson

No Stream

3:15 p.m.

30 Minutes

RootsTech Family Discovery Day Family Session:

Sister Rosemary M. Wixom and Brother Stephen W. Owen

RootsTech Family Discovery Day Family Session:

Sister Rosemary M. Wixom and Brother Stephen W. Owen

4:15 p.m.

30 Minutes

RootsTech Family Discovery Day Youth and Family Session:

Taysom Hill and Britain Covey

No Stream

About RootsTech

RootsTech, hosted by FamilySearch, is a global conference celebrating
families across generations, where people of all ages are inspired to discover
and share their memories and connections. This annual event has become the
largest of its kind in the world, attracting tens of thousands of participants
worldwide.

I noticed a surprising decrease in the number of my blog followers recently. The number went from 256 to 249 in just one week. I wondered why. Well, I think I found the answer.

Apparently Blogger has changed the way readers can follow Blogger blogs. In a Blogger Buzz article titled An update on Google Friend Connect, it was explained that readers who would like to follow Blogger blogs via "Google Friend Connect" must have a Google account. They also said the following,

"As part of this plan, starting the week of January 11, we'll remove the ability for people with Twitter, Yahoo, Orkut or other OpenId providers to sign in to Google Friend Connect and follow blogs. At the same time, we'll remove non-Google Account profiles so you may see a decrease in your blog follower count."

I shared this news on Facebook and several bloggers who also use Blogger had similar experiences with a drop in their blog follower numbers.

If you originally followed my blog via "Google Friend Connect" and don't have a Google Account, you may be one of my blog followers who have been removed by Google.

If you don't want to create a Google Account, no worries! You can also follow my blog on Feedly, or through another blog subscription service. Just click on "Subscribe in a reader" or on the green "Follow on feedly" button on the right side of my blog. You can also subscribe by email.

By the way, you don't have to have a Google Account to leave comments on my blog. In my blog's settings, I've allowed anyone to leave a comment. I do, however, moderate all of the comments so I can approve them before publishing them on my blog.

SALT
LAKE CITY, 28 January 2016—RootsTech, the largest family history conference in
the world, announced today the complete lineup of speakers for its free Family
Discovery Day event, which will take place Saturday, February 6, 2016, at the
Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. This incredible
opportunity is specially designed forfamilies and members of The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints ages 8 and older.

The free one-day event will feature inspirational
messages, instructional classes, interactive activities, and exciting
entertainment designed to teach LDS families how to find their ancestors,
prepare names for temple ordinances, and teach others to do the same. Attendees
will also receive access to the Expo Hall, where hundreds of exhibitors will
showcase the latest technology and tools. The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints and FamilySearch will host the event. Families are encouraged
to register online atRootsTech.org.

This year’s event will kick off with an exciting
opening family general session featuring newly called apostle Elder Dale G.
Renlund and his wife, Sister Ruth Renlund. Their daughter, Ashley Renlund, will
join them for what will be an inspiring and candid moment with the entire
Renlund family. This 45-minute opening session starts at 1 p.m.

Sheri Dew and Sister Wendy Watson Nelson will speak
during the family history discussion, which will be an exclusive conversation
between best friends. Sheri Dew is the executive vice president of Deseret
Management Corporation and the CEO of Deseret Book Company. Sister Wendy Watson
Nelson is the wife of President Russell M. Nelson and was a professor of
Marriage and Family Therapy. They will share their life experiences with family
history during this 45-minute session, which starts at 2 p.m.

Primary General President Sister Rosemary M. Wixom and
Young Men General President Brother Stephen W. Owen will speak during the
family session. Sister Wixom will share how the plan of salvation and family
history provide a taproot that anchors our children. Brother Owen will speak
about the role of families in the plan of salvation. This uplifting 30-minute
session starts at 3:15 p.m.

Family Discovery Day continues its amazing lineup with
a session featuring Britain Covey and Taysom Hill. Britain Covey is a
University of Utah Wide Receiver from Provo, Utah. Taysom Hill is a Brigham
Young University Quarterback from Pocatello, Idaho. They will both share
inspiring stories, humorous memories, and faith-promoting experiences. This
30-minute session will start at 4:15 p.m.

Family Discovery Day will close with a stunning
performance by The Lower Lights, a gospel and folk band that recently performed
at Kingsbury Hall. The band will bring its part-revival, part-vigil sound
steeped in tradition to Family Discovery Day for an exclusive performance that
attendees will not want to miss. The performance starts at 5:30 p.m.

Family Discovery Day is free, but registration is
required. Visit RootsTech.orgto
learn more and to register.

###

About RootsTech

RootsTech, hosted by FamilySearch, is a global
conference celebrating families across generations, where people of all ages
are inspired to discover and share their memories and connections. This annual
event has become the largest of its kind in the world, attracting tens of
thousands of participants worldwide.

The following is from RootsTech ~Family History Enthusiasts Worldwide Gathering in Utah for RootsTech
2016

For Immediate Release

SALT LAKE CITY, 27 January 2016—RootsTech, the largest family history
conference in the world, is looking forward to over 20,000 visitors over four
days with an exciting array of speakers and entertainers, over 250 interesting
and informative classes, a huge expo hall with more than 160 exhibitors. There
is something for every level of family history—from the beginner to
experienced. The three-day conference begins on Thursday, February 4, and goes
through Saturday, February 6. For more information go to RootsTech.org.

The keynote speakers and offerings reflect the growing influence of family
history. Today multiple generations of all ages are engaging through family
storytelling and sharing memories within families using social media and an
expanding array of new technologies and mobile apps. The opening session on
February 4 will begin with Stephen T. Rockwood, who is the managing director
for the Family History Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints and President/CEO of FamilySearch International.

Also featured is Paula
Williams Madison who is chairman and CEO of Madison Media Management
LLC, a Los Angeles based media consultancy company with global reach. After her
retirement in 2011, Madison started doing research on her family lineage. She
wrote the book and produced a movie Finding Samuel Lowe: China, Jamaica, Harlem
in April 2015 about her experiences. A free screening of the movie will be
provided on Wednesday, February 3.

Bruce Feiler is one of America’s most popular commentators about contemporary
life. He hosts the PBS series Walking the Bible and Sacred Journeys with Bruce Feiler. He wrote The
Secrets of Happy Families containing best practices for busy parents from some
of the country’s most creative minds. He has appeared on many television shows
on NRP, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and others.

On Friday, February 5, David Isay, is a scheduled keynote. He’s the founder of
StoryCorps, an award-winning organization that provides people of all
backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share, and preserve
their life stories. 50,000 interviews have been archived and preserved at the
American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. He has also written
several New York Times bestsellers, including Listening is an Act of Love. He
is a broadcaster and documentarian, and his research reveals ways to tell great
stories for the family historian.

Also on Friday, Josh and Naomi Davis, popular family bloggers known as Love Taza, will speak. On their blog, they relate their
life with their three children in bustling New York City. The blog has become a
digital destination viewed by millions around the world. People love the
inspiration about raising a family and the appreciation Naomi has for life’s
simple joys.

On Saturday, February 6, Doris Kearns Goodwin is a world-renowned presidential
historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author. She worked with Spielberg on the
movie Lincoln, based in part on her award winning Team of Rivals: The Political
Genius of Abraham Lincoln. She has written books about Frank and Eleanor
Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson, and the Kennedys and shares her expertise and
commentary on many television shows. She has a PhD in government from Harvard
and was an assistant to Lyndon Johnson and has been a consultant in several PBS
and History Channel documentaries.

Also on Saturday, Michael Leavitt, a three-term former governor of Utah, will
speak. He also served in George W. Bush’s cabinet as an Administrator of the
Environmental Protection Agency and Secretary of Health and Human Services.

The second annual Innovator Summit is a one-day
event on Wednesday, February 3, for developers, entrepreneurs, and innovators
from around the globe to explore, examine, and discover business and
technological opportunities within the family history industry—a rapidly
growing multibillion dollar industry. Innovators from around the globe and from
all industries will be competing for a piece of the $100,000 in total cash and
in-kind prizes. The keynote speaker for this event will be Ken Krogue, an
entrepreneur who has taken his business InsideSales.com from a small beginning
to a billion dollar industry. He will share his expertise about social media
and how to use the different forms effectively.

More information about speakers, entertainers, classes, and how to register at
RootsTech can be found at RootsTech.org.

About RootsTech

RootsTech, hosted by FamilySearch, is a global conference celebrating families
across generations, where people of all ages are inspired to discover and share
their memories and connections. This annual event has become the largest of its
kind in the world, attracting tens of thousands of participants worldwide.

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

ConferenceKeeper & Geneabloggers proclaim February 1 as
#GenealogySelfie Day

The
genealogy community is a friendly and rather social bunch. They share knowledge, information, documents,
research triumphs and struggles, joys, sorrows – even pictures of cats. So why
not selfies? Chances are good that if you’re on Facebook or Twitter, you have a
hefty number of “genealogy” friends – many that you probably have never met in
person, but regularly interact with through Likes, Shares, and Comments on one
another’s posts. Peruse your list of
“genealogy’ friends and you’ll most likely find that many use a photo of an
ancestor, or a baby picture, as their profile pic. It adds quite the variety to your friends
list, but you wouldn’t know them if you ran into them in the vendor hall at a
conference, or sat next to them at a workshop. And with RootsTech just around
the corner, there’s an opportunity to possibly run into thousands of them in
person!

ConferenceKeeper and Geneabloggers are delighted to offer a solution. They are officially
proclaiming February 1st as #GenealogySelfie Day – a day for social folks who
love genealogy to snap a picture of themselves and share it on Facebook and/or
Twitter with the hashtag #GenealogySelfie.
It will be fun to put faces to names, and increase the chances of
recognizing one another at RootsTech and other upcoming events and conferences.

Join in the fun for the first ever #GenealogySelfie Day on
February 1.

About
Conference Keeper: Growing since 2012, ConferenceKeeper.org
is a website dedicated to curating and calendaring genealogy and family history
conference details. Events are posted on the Calendar tab, as well as under the
specific page of their location. Along with a listing of events, those pages
also include links to useful research websites specific to each location,
including genealogical and historical societies, archives, and other helpful
information. See: http://www.conferencekeeper.org.

GeneaBloggersis an online community resource listing
over 3,000 genealogy and family history blogs all over the world. Blogs are
listed when they are submitted by the owner of the blog or by one of their
readers. The only qualification is that the blog have current articles and that
it be focused on genealogy and family history. See: http://www.geneabloggers.com.

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

I thought I'd share some information about the "My Schedule" feature on the RootsTech website today.

Here's a screenshot of the RootsTech website's home page. To access the "My Schedule" feature, click on "Schedule" at the top of the page.

Next, if you have already registered for RootsTech, sign in with your login ID and password. If you haven't registered yet, you can do so by clicking on "click here" in the Welcome box to the left of the Login box.

Once you've logged in, you'll be taken to this screen. This is the Dashboard page. Click on "My Schedule."

This is my tentative RootsTech 2016 schedule. The green boxes show the classes and events, etc. that I've scheduled.

Awesome, right? But what if a class I want to attend is already full when I get there? Well, in addition to scheduling classes, I've also added classes to my "Interests list." That way, if a class is already full, I can look at my "Interests list" and go to a different class for that time slot.

I'll show you how to add classes to your "Interests list."

First of all, here's how to see the list of classes offered at RootsTech this year. From the RootsTech home page, click on "2016 Classes."

You will be taken to the class list. As you can see, you can click on the session type, days, track, etc. to filter your class list. To add a class to your "Interests list" simply click on the star next to "Add to My Interests."

This is what my current "Interests list" looks like. To see your "Interest list" click on "Interests" on the left side of the "My Schedule" page. It's in that red box on the left.

By the way, here's how to add classes to your schedule. Simply click on the + sign next to the date and time of the class.

Okay, now back to the "My Schedule" feature. At the top of the "My Schedule" page you'll see that there are several tabs to choose from.

When I click on "Show Interests" my schedule looks like this.

Now my scheduled classes AND the classes I'm interested in are showing up on my schedule. The classes I've scheduled are in green and the classes I'm interested in are in gray.

I like the fact that I can see my scheduled classes as well as the classes I'm interested in. This way I can quickly click on and see the information for my 2nd and/or third class choices if my 1st class choice is already full. Unfortunately, I didn't see this feature in the RootsTech app. I've tried a work-around by adding a note to a class I'm interested in.

Did you know that you can edit your schedule from the "My Schedule" page? Just click on "Edit Schedule" at the top of the page.

You will be taken to a screen that looks similar to this. You can choose a day by clicking on the arrows next to the date at the top of the page.

To edit your schedule, click on a class on the list and follow the prompts in the box that appears. If you are trying to add a class during a time you've already scheduled a class, you will be given the option to remove your currently scheduled class and replace it with the new one.

Another neat feature of the "My Schedule" page is the ability to add personal time to your schedule. To add personal time, click on "Add Personal Time" at the top of the page.

A box like this will appear. Select the day, time, length of time, and description for your personal time event.

For this post, I added lunch to my schedule on Thursday.

I clicked on the "My Schedule" button and now lunch shows up in blue on my schedule. Pretty cool, right?

To see the full list of RootsTech 2016 Ambassadors, click HERE. If you'd like to follow along with the happenings at RootsTech next month, please check out and follow my fellow Ambassadors' blogs and other social media sites by going to the Ambassador list.

I'm so excited about attending RootsTech! I leave for Salt Lake City in two weeks!